Character's Name: Melody Jacobs
Codename: Electrode
Age: 28 [ Jan 5th, 1980 ]
Powers: [ surge ]
Electrical Absorption Melody's body is constantly absorbing electricity at all times from all sources (ie: static from air, appliances, outlets, etc). She cannot control the absorption process, and is always in danger of overloading her body, causing her to nearly go insane, speak quickly and electronically, and make her skittery, so she must consciously expel the energy as not to have any serious accidents.
lightning blasts She is able to channel the collected electrical energy into extremely destructive lightning blasts. It's hard for her to control the intensity of these blasts when she intends for larger bursts, so they are often much stronger than they need to be. When she aims only to charge things or dispel her energy though, it's much smaller and a bit more controlled.
superhuman speed Melody is able to use the electrical energy absorbed to pretty much 'ride the lightning'. This form of superspeed is much less practical than others, as it takes large amounts of energy, and usually leaves her exhausted afterward.
Biography/History: Abandoned at birth by her young, irresponsible mother, Melody Jacobs grew up in the care of strangers. She was never caused more burden than required of a child, but she never seemed to be able to stay in one home for too long. Bouncing around to different foster parents, often more than once a month, took an obvious toll on Melody. As she got older, she would often estrange herself from the rest of the family, which encouraged them to send her away even more. This pattern wasn't going to get any better, especially once she'd turned 15. She hadn't been with her new family for very long, and so far they'd seemed pleasant enough. All day she'd been experiencing bad static, getting shocked by everything she touched. There were times when she felt dizzy, or as if her heart were racing. People kept telling her to slow down when she spoke.
She couldn't figure out what was wrong with her, and just chalked it up to some kind of panic attack, until that evening when all of the electrical energy she'd apparently been absorbing all day finally reached it's limit. Her mind raced and she was in complete panic mode. As she erratically tried to explain to the family that she had no clue what was going on, they called the police to let them deal with her. This was probably a mistake, because once Melody realized what they'd done, she freaked out even more, and her anger caused the electricity to flare, causing an electrical fire in the house. Now that the family was distracted with that, she took the time to run away, not that it would have been difficult to find a running ball of electricity, but it did eventually die down.
Too scared to go back to her social worker, Melody was homeless and wandering through New York. Every now and then she would have flare up again, but she would always hide, hoping to not draw much attention to herself, and to keep from injuring anyone. The overload drove her crazy, though, and it took great effort from Melody to keep herself from screaming out or being nonsensical. The effort was usually made in the accidental destruction of other people's property, causing her to wander to new places in the city each time this happened. All her work to go unnoticed often failed, especially during the time when her body forced energy expulsion. People's reactions to her unintentional destructions or injuries only worsened her antisocial behavior, as well as her dislike for baseline humans.
After a year or so of being pursued by people wanting to ultimately end her, Melody found her way to Mutant town where, yes, she was still homeless, yes, she was still damaging people's things and accidentally hurting people, but at least they understood why it was happening, and if she
wasn't doing those things, they weren't trying to lock her up. Tired of living in pain and confusion, Melody actively started trying to control her powers. She'd realized that it was the overloading energy that caused her to have the outbursts, so she started trying to discharge it
before it got to the point where she was losing her mind and unintentionally releasing electrical energy. After learning to control that as much as she could, she began working on manipulation, mostly out of boredom, as she generally had no use for her powers. There were times where she'd squat in an abandoned apartment, but that never really lasted very long.
Still, all the control in the world wouldn't stop her from absorbing the ambient electricity in the air during a strong thunderstorm, or allow her to effectively discharge enough at a time to avoid having an episode. It had happened several times before, but this storm was stronger than usual, and she just couldn't keep up. People were chasing her again, but instead of running, she got
mad, and when she had mind enough to do so, she'd control the crowds herself, firing at people who wouldn't leave her alone. While at first she'd just been aiming at those who'd been chasing her, her actions became unintentionally audacious taking aim on an older gentleman, obviously a mutant, who'd been standing silent watching her defend herself.
He didn't deny that he was impressed with her powers (or his uncanny ability to find people such destructive abilities) but noted that she needed guidance. With his help, she could learn to master her powers, and not let them be the master of her. Not only that, but he would provide sanctuary from - and possibly a little retaliation toward - those who would seek to harm her. Even for a girl who wasn't exactly the most trusting, in her head it was a deal with few flaws, and she eagerly accepted. The years have passed an she's still skulking around with the Brotherhood, completely loyal, feeling that the X-Men's attempts at equality with all the anti-mutant movements happening aren't ever going to go anywhere. She's perfectly happy where she is, and she's definitely willing to fight to stay there.
Personality: While her powers often light her up, Melody is a pretty reserved character. She likes to stay in the background as much as possibly, only coming forward when she has to. Having spent most of her life in the shadows, trying keep out of sight, little has changed, even if she is in a more accepting environment. She's still a little self conscious about her ability - or inability - to control her powers. Although she's learned to time her mandatory expulsions pretty well, Melody fears that she's never going to be able to keep it completely under control, or find something to help her do it.
Strengths: She's extremely loyal, feeling that without the Brotherhood she'd be somewhere extremely uncomfortable or possibly dead. Melody's abilities are also useful aside from being offensive. She can charge and drain electrical devices, and and move at superhuman speeds. It's pretty win all around until she loses control.
Weaknesses: Melody is constantly absorbing electrical energy, and the more that builds up in her body, the less control she has over herself. If she doesn't efficiently discharge this energy soon enough, the build up can cause her go a bit mad, which disables her from effectively controlling her powers, which, ultimately spells large, unintentional, dangerous and destructive discharges. If she doesn't do the discharging herself, her body will force her to do it.
Appearance: To be the powerhouse that she is, Melody is actually quite small in build and stature, standing about five foot two, as 115 pounds. She dresses modestly, wanting nothing more than to blend into a crowd. There's nothing about her appearance that really makes her stand out anyway until her powers start acting up. Until then, she's absolutely able to pass for a baseline on appearances alone.
Character Affiliation: Brotherhood
